TERRE HAUTE — Before a rapt audience in the Terre Haute North Vigo High School gym, Barack Obama made a statement that carries added significance now, 22 months later.
�The American people are not looking for a way to bring each other down, but to find a way to lift this country up,� he said on April 11, 2008.
Obama was a Democratic presidential candidate then, locked in a tight race with fellow U.S. senator Hillary Clinton for the nomination. People in the crowd of 2,700 heard about health care, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the snowballing recession, spiraling college tuition, and the home mortgage crisis. They cheered. That November, of course, he won the presidency, and took office in January 2009.
Barely a year into his term, now, those problems have not vanished. Such a rapid, multi-pronged cure would�ve been miraculous.
But this is the 21st century. Repairs, even to something as monolithic and unfathomably complex as the U.S. economy, must happen with speed equal to that of the Internet.
A handful of presidents have inherited similar societal hairballs. Obviously, Abraham Lincoln (with the Civil War) and Franklin Roosevelt (the Great Depression) stepped into crises, as well as William McKinley, with the Panic of 1896, said James Hilty, dean of Temple University Ambler and a nationally published presidential scholar. Lincoln�s task was incomparable. As for FDR and McKinley, time was less of an enemy, and fewer members of Congress were fighting their efforts, compared to Obama�s situation.
�It�s a very different environment today,� said Hilty, who has published works on Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Clinton and George W. Bush, along with the 1998 book �Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector.�
�I�ll blame the 24-hour news cycles,� Hilty said by telephone Thursday from Ambler, Pa. �But I also blame the basic immaturity of the country. We want something, and we want it right now. And the people who have the most outlandish things to say get the most attention.�
Unfortunately for Obama, some members of Congress seem determined to prevent anything significant from happening right now � or at least not until November�s midterm congressional elections. That�s not surprising, but sad.
Unemployment, for example, is the stinging, lingering after-effect of recession. Ten percent of Americans in the work force don�t have jobs. The rate will stay in double-digits throughout 2010, the president�s Council of Economic Advisors reported to Congress on Thursday. Yet, that same day, a bipartisan agreement on a job-creation bill unraveled on Capitol Hill. Republicans, who pushed for peripheral attachments such as an extension of the Patriot Act and a continuation of Medicare payments to doctors, reacted angrily. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid�s scrapped the two-party deal on an $85-billion plan � endorsed by Obama � in favor of a Democrat-style $15-billion package.
That is just one example of how slowly progress moves through the congressional sausage grinder, especially when the lawmakers fear their jobs are in jeopardy. Health-care reform, energy initiatives and education policies will not happen quickly.
And, the economy will not recover quickly. Our culture � the have-it-now mentality � created that mess over many years. Too many people bought stuff they couldn�t realistically afford on credit � both at home and in their businesses � falsely ballooning the values of financial investments and homes. Restoring legitimacy to the American system of producing and consuming goods and services will take years. As Obama took office, the economy was shedding 800,000 jobs a month � 800,000. That�s about the equivalent of every man, woman and child living in Dayton, Ohio � every month.
Did the nation expect Obama to push those boulders � a divisive Congress, and a mass-scale economic hangover � up and over the hill in a year? Apparently. And he shares responsibility, partly, for those impossibly great expectations. Despite his sincerity to reach across the political aisle and public support (his approval rating remains a steady 51 percent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll), the president�s persuasive appeal has not won over members of Congress. The lawmakers, feeling heat back home, aren�t budging in any direction that could cost them re-election. Republicans have solidified their opposition.
�It appears they just don�t want to do anything that gives [the president] credit,� Hilty said.
Roosevelt worked in a far different climate in his first term. In the midterm election of 1934, voters gave FDR, a Democrat, a huge majority in the U.S. House and Senate, Hilty explained. Likewise, the grand social reforms enacted in the mid-1960s largely happened because of President Lyndon Johnson�s ability to wheel and deal in Congress, where he�d spent 24 years as a representative and senator.
�Presidents, the smart ones, know that you can�t manage [Congress]; you can only manipulate it,� Hilty said. �And that was Lyndon Johnson�s greatest strength, and Obama�s biggest weakness,� so far.
FDR also excelled in an area Obama has yet to secure � connecting to the heartland. It�s an odd paradox, because Roosevelt came from aristocracy, and Obama from a far less privileged life. Still, FDR�s �fireside chats,� broadcast by radio across the country, drew 400,000 letters a week at peak points during the Depression, Hilty noted.
With that momentum � in Congress, and in middle America � Roosevelt�s agenda for revitalizing the devastated economy got implemented. �The stuff they did makes the current stimulus program look like child�s play,� Hilty said.
Obama needs a more effective liaison on Capitol Hill, and to more clearly explain the huge task of economic recovery to the masses. It�s a tall order.
Saddled with a �do-nothing Congress� in his first term, President Truman simply stiffened his upper lip and plowed ahead, realizing his opposition was emboldened by his slipping approval ratings. Risking his re-election hopes, Truman forged ahead in the country�s best interests, as he saw it, Hilty recalled.
Obama may have to follow those footsteps.
�He might just do what he has to do, and the hell with it,� Hilty said. �There are very few presidents who would do that, and Harry Truman was one of them.�
Of course, much to the surprise of pundits, Americans wound up backing Truman in the 1948 presidential election.
Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.
Mark Bennett Opinion
Related Photos
Discussion
MARK BENNETT: Americans� �we want it now� mentality may have to wait
- Mark Bennett Opinion
-
-
MARK BENNETT: Toxic victories
When the Super Bowl ends tonight in Indianapolis, most of the Giants and Patriots will shake hands, despite their competitive fire, win or lose.
-
MARK BENNETT: Indianapolis will be on display for the nation with the Super Bowl coming to town
Someone immersed in a crash diet to make a smashing impression at a class reunion may get the desired effect.
-
MARK BENNETT: Patiently waiting for Indiana's primary
While standing in a check-in line at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome a few years ago, I watched an Italian woman walk past dozens of more patient travelers to grab a spot up front.
-
MARK BENNETT: Processing postal change
You probably know one of those 10,026.
-
MARK BENNETT: Multiple choice question: Voters must choose which direction they want the future of education to go
There was a time when few Hoosiers outside of education circles could name the state superintendent of public instruction.
-
MARK BENNETT: With an historic election behind Terre Haute, it’s time to look at the future’s possibilities
Everybody knows their “woulda, coulda, shoulda” moments.
-
MARK BENNETT: Economic forecast: Things looking up but don’t expect ‘much of a dent in unemployment’
Outside the Columbia Club, the atmosphere matched the picture of 2012 painted by a panel of economists for an audience of business people gathered inside that ritzy building on Monument Circle in Indianapolis.
-
MARK BENNETT: Students who reach for a college education too often are buried under a pile of debt
Right now, millions of college graduates are wondering whether their education was worth the effort.
That doubt hurts the country. -
MARK BENNETT: Tangier’s festival volunteers keep past alive for future
Traditions stay alive only as long as the people who hold them dear.
Small towns have that same life expectancy. -
MARK BENNETT: Made in the USA? A political T-shirt faux pas
The most rational statement about a small furor in the U.S. Senate campaign was uttered by a tea party organizer.
-
MARK BENNETT: Daniels goes where a candidate probably won’t in new book
Some things simply won’t get said on the political campaign trail.
-
MARK BENNETT: Time waits for no Manning
Sad, disappointed and uncertain. Colts fans feel all of those.
-
MARK BENNETT: Value of every minute deeply realized on 9/11 (related VIDEO)
Editor’s Note
This summer, the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett visited New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., sites where the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now memorialized. He observed the cityscapes and landscapes forever changed by the events of that day and talked with people he encountered there, many of whom witnessed the attacks and their aftermath from close range and had personal ties to its victims. -
MARK BENNETT: As school begins, carve out daily time
By now, most back-to-school checklists are tattered and creased.
-
MARK BENNETT: Movie scene shows Terre Haute accepting Debs' role in its history
You stay classy, Terre Haute.
-
MARK BENNETT: Community outpouring represents collective sympathy for fallen officer
Every Terre Haute resident has probably been asked the same question.
“Why do you live there?” -
MARK BENNETT: Declaration of cursive’s death reminiscent of ’70s metric-conversion mania
When the state of Indiana announced it would no longer require schools to teach cursive handwriting, I was LOL.
-
MARK BENNETT: On Fourth of July, remember, too, those we depend on
A spatula in one hand, a cool beverage in the other, and a stash of bottle rockets in a plastic sack in the garage.
-
MARK BENNETT: Get out and see what the Valley has to offer
Maybe you drive the same route to work every day. Shortest route. Saves time and a few dimes worth of gas.
-
MARK BENNETT: Walking the fine bipartisan line
Lugar’s occasional departures from hard-line conservatism have put his six-term Senate position in jeopardy.
-
MARK BENNETT: Terre Haute man receives kidney from younger brother
The act of giving often triggers an instant calculation of loss.
-
MARK BENNETT: Tornadoes stand as catastrophic mileposts in history
Aforce stronger than mankind rivets the attention of humans. Fear. Awe. Curiosity.
-
MARK BENNETT: A degree can open doors but in this day and age, is it enough?
This month, hundreds of brand-new graduates of the local colleges are staring at that piece of paper and wondering, “Was it all worth it?”
-
MARK BENNETT: Appeasing hard-liners in presidential race could erode Daniels’ budget-minded appeal
Some Hoosiers who voted Mitch Daniels into the Indiana governor’s seat in 2004 may not recognize Mitch Daniels, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, if he chooses to run.
-
MARK BENNETT: From Mother to Child
My mom remains a sweet, generous, energetic, faithful lady at 87 years old. Raising five children somehow didn’t break her bright spirit or my late father’s endless patience.
-
MARK BENNETT: Hoosier college grads may want to consider teaching jobs elsewhere
Commencement ceremonies at Indiana State University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College are just six days away.
-
Mark Bennett: Consumers stuck when it comes to dealing with increasing gas prices
Most motorists pulling up to the gas pumps lately can relate to Frank Costanza.
As George Costanza’s volatile father on “Seinfeld,” Frank was told to say, “Serenity now,” whenever he felt his blood pressure rise. Instead, Frank screamed the phrase, defeating the purpose and illustrating his perpetual state of agitation. -
MARK BENNETT: Vigo County struggles with persistent child poverty
The statistics are hard to accept, especially for a community proud of its progress.
The situation those numbers expose is difficult to change. -
MARK BENNETT: Long live ... us
In never-say-die America, life expectancy is longer than ever, according to a report issued this month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
MARK BENNETT: Commission calls for academic success to be tied to NCAA Tournament participation
Follow the money.
That advice from Watergate informant “Deep Throat” led Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to the truth that uncovered corruption in the nation’s public office. The concept applies to situations beyond the Oval Office, though. - More Mark Bennett Opinion Headlines
-
MARK BENNETT: Toxic victories
Raw Video: Biden Greets Chinese VP for Visit
Authorities: Houston Found Underwater in Tub
Whitney Houston Funeral to Be Invitation Only
Raw Video: Heavy Shelling in Homs, Syria
New Details in Search for Missing Utah Mom
Bacteria Keep Swimmers Off Some Fla. Beaches
Raw Video: 5 People Injured in Bangkok Blasts
Trial Opens for Ala. Man in Bride's Diving Death
Raw Video: Kim Jong Il Statue Unveiled
Baltimore's 'Crime Stopper' Is a Basketball Star
Raw Video: Hearse Arrives at N.J. Funeral Home
Raw Video: Houston Body Flown From L.A. to N.J.
Arm Wrestler Not Guilty Plea in Wife's Death
Raw Video: Protesters, Security Clash in Bahrain
Obama: Good US-China Ties Help the Whole World
First Person: Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
School Pays Students to Attend Class
And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is...
Obama's New Budget: The Winners and Losers
Raw Video: Whitney Houston's Last Performance
Kim K. Wet, Wild and Natural
Ultimate Tazer Ball is a Shocking New Sport
Shakira Attacked By Sea Lion
Modern day treasure hunter searching for $3 billion prize
What Happened Inside Whitney's Hotel Room?
Saying 'I Love You' With a Sewage Plant Tour
VS Models Wow for V-Day
Olympic Swimmer Proposes on Podium After Big Win
Kate Upton MLB 2K12 Commercial
Watch: Whitney Houston's Golden Hearse
Scarlett Johansson's Bikini P-D-A
Man Allegedly Drowns Wife While Scuba Diving
Glee Pays Tribute to Whitney
Wash. becomes 7th state to okay same-sex marriage
Romijn's 60 Pound Weight Loss
The 'Celebrity Apprentice' Cast Meets Donald Trump
Kissing contest heats up
Hugh Hefner's Son Arrested
Jacqueline Kennedy's personal papers released
Did Tyler Perry Have a Secret Wedding?
